Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/367



INDIAN WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE 339

The scratches on a "coon tree" originated the Indian name arakun or racoon, while in the far west cayuse, the tribal name for the Indians around Walla Walla, Wash., is now applied to the Indian pony, elsewhere known by the Spanish word mustang.

Over half of our states have Indian names, Mississippi, the great river; Missouri, the muddy river; Wisconsin, the rapid river; Connecticut (Quinni-tukq-ut), the long tidal river; Min- nesota, the whitish river; Kansas, the smoky river. While the same word designating an Indian tribe has become Arkansas by the addition of the French word for bow, the pronun- ciation being obscured by the French spelling as in the case of Spokane and Willamette. Nebraska means shallow water, and Ohio the beautiful river. The same word in Japan signifies good morning, and the story is told of a traveler in the land of the Mikado, supposing that the salutation was an inquiry as to his residence, replied, "No, I come from Kentucky," which also is an Indian word of uncertain meaning, although popu- larly supposed to signify the dark and bloody ground. The meanings of Tennessee and of Oregon are unknown.

Alaska, the mainland, has the same meaning as Maine ; while Massachusetts was named from the blue hills of Milton. The derivation of Idaho from its snow-clad peaks is disputed. Wyo- ming is an Indian word for prairie. Michigan, which an Englishman once pronounced "my chicken," means fish weir, similar to Wallowa in Oregon. New Mexico retains an Aztec word which referred to a deity, and from those same people we have Arizona, the small springs, where silver was found in early days, and also Texas, which has the same significance, friends or allies, as Dakota. The captain of a Mississippi steamer is said to have given the names of states to the sleep- ing apartments on his boat from which the term state-room originated, and being loyal to his native state, named his own room by the pilot house Texas, which originated the expres- sion "Texas deck" and so became applicable to the sharp- edged surface of the cayuse on which so many of the early pioneers migrated to the Oregon country.